Article holder



S pt 20, 1960 H. G. HIGGINS 2,953,255

Y ARTICLE HOLDER Filed April 29, 1958 1 INVENTOR.

HENRY GRAHAM H/66/N5 BY fiff/tajum ATTORNEY Un tedstat s Paten 0.

ARTICLE HOLDER U Henry Graham 506 Georgetown, San -Mateo, 1 1

Filed Apr. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 731,764 .2 Claims. 01.21140) Thisinvention relates .to improvements in article holders of the typeadapted to support knives, bladed tools, brooms, shovels, and variousother implements in suspended positions. I v, q

The primary object of the presentinvention is to pro vide a novel holderor rack for supporting-various types of tools orimplernents, the holderhaving a .plurality of in 2,953,255, .1 Patented Sept. 20, 1960 Fig. 6is a perspective view of one of the channeled blocks which holds agripping member of spherical shape.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates a substantiallystraight, elongated plate of uniform width throughout its length, havingupper and lower forwardly protruding parallel flanges 2 and 3, theupperflange having a downwardly curved forward edgeand thelower flangelying in a plane substantially at right angles to the plate. The plate 1may be of any suitable length depending upon the number of articles itis intended to hold, and in normal practice it .is secured to a sidewall or other supporting medium by means of screws, an adhesive, orother suitable device. When in a supporting position, the plate 1preferably is arranged against a side wall with the lower flange 3extending horizontally to provide a narrow shelf for supporting a numberof independently adjustable blocks 4 of suitable shape and size. Theblocks are preferably made of a fairly hard plastic or rubber materialwhich is somewhat rigid butatthe same time slightly flexible so as tomake it possible to mount them on the supporting plate 1, or to detachthem, as will be later described. The blocks 4 are of uniform height,corresponding substantially to the width of the plate 1, but theirwidths may vary, and each has parallel front and rear sides Sand 6,upper and lower parllel sides 7 and 8, and parallel lateral sides 9 and10. Each block blades, or other devices, certain of the blocks havingadjustable gripping balls confined within inclined channels in theblocks which commimieate at their lower ends with the slots, therebypermitting "the'balls to fall into gripping engagement with the devicesthen positioned in the slots. The adjustable blocks are separatelydetachable from the flanged supporting member, and their relativepositions on the supporting member may be easily changed to increase ordecrease the widths of the intervening slots to accommodate toolhandles, blades, or other objects of various sizes.

The article holder embodying the present invention may have a suflicientlength to provide means for supporting any number of knives, tools, andother objects in suspended positions in which any one of them may beeasily removed without displacing the others.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an articleholder of the kind characterized, having a plurality of relativelyadjustable gripping elements which makes it possible to support a numberof knife blades, tool handles, or other devices having varying widths inpositions permitting their selective removal.

Other and further objects of my invention will be pointed outhereinafter or will be indicated in the appended claims or will beobvious to one skilled in the art upon an understanding of the presentdisclosure. For the purpose of this application, I have elected to showherein certain forms and details of an article holder representative ofmy invention; it is to be understood, however, that the embodiment of myinvention herein shown and described is for the purpose of illustrationonly and that therefore it is not to be regarded as exhaustive of thevariations of the invention in the art.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an article holder embodying myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the article holder;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a bottom view-of the article holder; and

is formed at its upper rear corner with a horizontal groove 11 withinwhich the forwardly disposed upper flange 2 is adapted tofit. Whenmounting a block on the supporting plate, such block is first placed aslightly inclined position with the horizontal groove 11 arranged "toreceive the upper flange .12, and when so positioned the lower .portionof the block is forced rearwardly; until its lower l-side 8 rests on andis positioned above the lower flange? and its rear side 6 is against theplate. The

' blocks are so proportioned that they will normally remain in fixedpositions on the supporting plate when once mounted thereon. It isevident that the plate 1 may be so arranged on a supporting structurethat the positions of the upper and lower flanges 2 and 3 are reversed,but in such an event the grooves 11 would then be positioned at thelower rear corners of the blocks 4. The blocks are so arranged withrespect to one another that slots 12 of suitable widths are positionedtherebetween, such slots being adapted to receive a tool handle A or aknife blade or other object. The block 4a at the left end of the plate 1may be solid throughout if so desired.

Each of the blocks 4 is provided with an inclined channel 13 whichextends through the lateral side 9 and communicates at its lower end andside with an adjacent slot 12, such channel being open at its upper end.The channel 13 of each block is partially closed at its lower end by asubstantially horizontal shelf 14 which is adapted to support a globularmember or spherical ball 15 which is loosely held in the channel. Thelower ends of the channels .13 are so positioned with respect to theslots 12 that the globular members 15 extend into the slots or engagewith the sides 10 of the blocks to the left, depending upon the spacingof such blocks or the widths of the slots. Thus, if two of the blocksare sufliciently close together to form a narrow slot which will beadapted to receive slidably but fairly snugly a knife blade, theglobular member .15 will normally engage with the side 10 of theparslots 12 of different widths. The outer sides of the channels 13 areinclined outwardly from the slots -1-2,"thereby allowing the globularmembers 15 to recede freely from the slots as theyare moved upwardly.Thus, when a handle A, knife blade or other object is inserted into as1ot'12 from below and pushed upwardly, the engaged globular member 15will be retracted from the slot and moved upwardly, thereby allowingsuch object to extend well into the slot. Upon releasing the object soinserted into-the slot, such object drops downwardly while stillengaging with the globular member, and the-latter also droppingdownwardly in its channel 13 exerts a sufficient pressure upon theobject to hold it in a suspended position; By pushing the handle, knifeblade, or object upwardly and at the same time moving it outwardlythrough the front opening in the slot, the clamping action of theglobular member thereon is discontinued, thereby permitting the releaseof such handle, knife blade, or object.

The globular member may be made from any'suitable material which doesnot provide a smooth surface, such as certain kinds of plastic, fairlyhard rubber, or the like.

What I claim is:

1. In an article holder, an elongated supporting plate having upper andlower substantially horizontal flanges extending forwardly and arrangedin substantially parallel relationship, the upper flange having adownwardly extending longitudinal forward edge portion, a plurality ofindividually adjustable blocks, detachably supported on the platebetween the upper and lower flanges and having horizontally alignedgrooves at their upper rear sides for receiving the downwardlyextending'edge portion of the upper flange, the blocks resting on thelower flange, the blocks being spaced from one another to formcommunicating with the intervening slots, the channels i to provideintervening slots of varying widths between the blocks, inclinedchannels in the blocks, the channels being open at their upper ends andhaving their lower end portions opening into and communicating with theslots, the channels having supporting shelves atv their lower ends, anda plurality of globular members movably positioned in the channels, andthe globular members being normally supported on the shelves andpositioned A with portions thereof extending into adjacent slots,whereby articles positioned in the slots may be held in suspendedpositions between sides of certain blocks and article receivingintervening slots and the blocks being :3

relatively adjustable longitudinally along the supporting plate toprovide intervening slots of varying widths, in clined channels in theblocks, the channels being open at their upper ends and having theirlower end portions the globular members carried by other blocks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS481,455 Worden Aug. 23, 1892 669,142 Love Mar. 5, 1901 1,516,521 DayNov. 25, 1924 2,051,541 Chanik Aug. 18, 1936 2,371,433 Davis Mar. 13,1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,647 Great Britain May 17, 1890 |l,049 ,697 FranceAug. 19, 1953

